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Local Texas News
Analysis: Public Servants’ Record on Tax Burdens in Rockwall
Some public servants didn’t drop tax rates enough to offset property valuation increases.
Houston Controller Seeks Investigation Into Mayor Whitmire’s Fundraising Practices
The request is a direct response to the mayor’s calls for an investigation into Controller Hollins last week.
Dallas County Addresses Issues With Electronic Poll Books Crashing
The elections department has implemented a new update to mitigate the issue.
Georgetown ISD School Board Terminates Teacher Who Allegedly Abused Student
Mom Milytza Guzman alleged teacher Lisa Cantu abused her 11-year-old special needs daughter.
Local Archive
A Closer Look at Tax Reform
Property tax reform, while a wildly popular issue among Texans, has been largely dismissed by a Republican-led legislature. While much needed attention has finally been paid towards reducing the onerous business franchise tax, too little consideration has been given...
Bayou City Lobbying For More Government
Taxpayer funded lobbying was a persistent theme throughout much of the 84th Legislative Session with the Texas Senate Research Center noting that over forty-two percent of registered lobbyists in Austin were representing city and county governments—that number...
North Texas Cities: Top 20 Highest Property Tax Burdens
A detailed analysis conducted by Empower Texans’ Metroplex Bureau has revealed an alarming disparity in municipal property tax burdens across North Texas’ fifty largest cities. The most egregious offender, Southlake, levies a property tax burden on the local economy...
Who is to Blame for Houston’s Credit?
Moody’s, one of three major credit rating agencies, has revised their outlook on Houston to negative citing the growing debt and pension obligations that city officials have continually failed to address. The report states, “Houston’s economy continues to benefit from...
North Texas Cities: Top 20 Largest Debt Burdens
Texas taxpayers are currently burdened with the second-highest local debt in the nation, on a per capita basis, when compared to the nation’s ten largest states. While the largest public borrowers in Texas are government school districts, nearly one-third of the $330...
Houston Officials Hate Residential Tax Relief
For the second consecutive year Houstonians can expect to get a minor break on their property taxes. According to Houston City Controller Ronald Green, preliminary projections determine the city is expected to have to forego collecting $53 million in new property...
North Texas Cities: Top 20 Largest Tax Bases
Perhaps the most widely misunderstood concept in municipal governance is judging the size of the “property tax base.” When determining the appropriate tax rate, officials often err by considering only the median home values they tax instead of the total tax base,...
Grassroots Accountability Wins in Smith County
Tuesday marked a win for grassroots activists in East Texas, when the Smith County Commissioner’s Court decided not to expend county funds on a duplicative study. In a press release dated June 22, Grassroots America We the People’s Executive Director JoAnn Fleming...
Democrats Are Not Our Problem
Though many lawmakers are less than honest with their constituents when they return home from Austin, one of them has been a little more frank. Delivering a straight-forward, cogent assessment of the 84th session to the Southwest Dallas County Republican Club...